SSM Health

A growing number of people are testing positive for the coronavirus, but Missouri scientists say the virus still poses a smaller threat to residents than during the height of the pandemic.

SSM Health is shutting down its trauma center at DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton, the last state-designated trauma center in north St. Louis County. SSM Health officials say it's because so few patients who come to the hospital ER need trauma services, but advocates and EMS workers say the decision could put patients with life-threatening injuries at risk.

Legislation directs social services, mental health departments to collaborate on solutions to clients being boarded in medical and mental health facilities ‘without medical justification’

With a 40% staff vacancy rate, SLU Hospital has nurses caring for up to six patients per day, which they say poses a safety risk.

A four-year study will help develop AI software that will speed up the process of matching donated kidneys with patients in need, especially those not at the top of the transplant list.

SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital nurses say that their departments are regularly understaffed and that hospital management has not done enough to address their concerns.

While coronavirus outbreaks have largely been concentrated in southern Missouri, epidemiologists from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services say the number of cases is now rising in other parts of the state, including the St. Louis region. Rural counties with low vaccination rates also are at risk of large outbreaks.

In spring, the region's largest hospital systems put a moratorium on elective procedures and surgeries. But another freeze could prove financially devastating for hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus patients and short-staffed.

In the summer of 2018, St. Charles resident Cindy Fricke got the news following her annual mammogram: She had breast cancer. The diagnosis put her on a two-year path involving chemotherapy, radiation and a partial mastectomy. Now she is cancer free, and as she continues to receive care through SSM Health, her outlook is full of gratitude and optimism, even amid a pandemic.

The clinic inside SSM Health DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton, which opened this week, will treat acute mental health and addiction issues and refer patients to local therapists and psychiatrists for an appointment within days.